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Part 42 |
The View from Nongkhai |
Published |
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9 December |
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2006 |
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Arising from Episode
41 |
I
was a tad disappointed not to hear from Richard
Dawkins or his Holiness the Dalai Lama as I gave
them both a mention, but I was compensated by
two emails from people of opposing views from different parts of
the world, the first was from Roxie Simmons in
Alaska with these interesting suggestions:-
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Hi, My
brother Chris gave me your website to check
out some of the sites. I read your latest episode
on evolution. I recently attended a seminar on
Creation/Evolution and thought you might want to
check out this website
http://www.creationscience.net/ . Another good
book is called "The Evolution Cruncher". I think
you can get a copy from this website
http://www.evolution-facts.org/. Anyhow, hope
you get the opportunity to read them. Best
wishes on your travels, Roxie |
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The second (slightly
edited by me) from Rob Pooley in UK is closer to my
heart:- |
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Hi Tony. Susan
Brophy alerted me to your website because she
thought I would be interested to read your Episode
41. We have met briefly in a cafe in Herne Bay some
years ago. Here are some comments. Organised
religion's teachings on an "afterlife" can
sometimes put so much value on whatever realm it may
be beyond death that their adherents can forget to
live in the meantime. Or, they only act in the
present with constant reference to an essentially
unknown future time and state which they take on
board entirely on faith. |
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I once heard
happiness described as a by-product. If you perform
actions, not to attain happiness, but as ends in
themselves, then happiness can be the by-product.
This is akin to the Hindu idea of having the
right to perform actions but not to the fruit of the
actions. If you work with your mind on the result or
reward, then your mind will not be properly engaged
on the work itself. |
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As for money
it can be likened to a knife. A knife can be used to
eat food, to carve a figure or cut out a bullet from
a wound. On the other hand it can be used to stab a
man to death. It is not the knife or the money that
is bad but the use to which it is put which is up to
the motivation of the person using it. |
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Incidentally,
Richard Dawkins, is probably now the most
high-profile atheist in England. He has appeared on
TV defending the atheist corner and presented a
programme on the history of atheism. His new book is
called "The God Delusion" and is a bestseller. |
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Hope this is of interest to you.
Best wishes Robert Pooley. |
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November in Indonesia |
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I
start part 42 with this photo of (l to r) Anisa,
Ché, myself, Jacq and Chandi, as an echo of the
photo at the end of part 41. I am a great fan of
Douglas Adams, so the number '42' is of great
significance, being as it is 'the answer to life,
the universe and everything'. |
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l had
a feeling that part 42 might be some sort of
watershed, and so it proved, but not in any way that
I expected. Some time ago 'Doughnut' was a regular
contributor, and he went so far as to write
episode 4. In that tradition, my grandson Ché will
take over the writing of this episode. Naturally it
will centre on him. |
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But
first I want to mention another sad death. I don't
want to turn my website into an obituary column, but
Dan (left) died aged 33 of liver cancer last month.
I hope
that I am not being disrespectful, but this was the
first picture of him that I published, and it is how
I will always remember him.
Sudden
death is always poignant, but sudden death at 33 is
especially so.
Do I
really need to repeat Carsten's advice?
"Enjoy your
life day by day and everyday, because you are longer
dead than alive!!" |
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Hi, my name is Ché, and I want to tell you
what happened when my granddad visited me and my
mother and sisters in Indonesia. |
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We
lived outside Yogyakarta, on the slope of Merapi,
one of Java's many active volcanoes. This is the
view of Merapi from our house. |
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Earlier this year just a
few days after I was born in May, Yogyakarta
suffered an earthquake, shattering houses, buildings
and people's lives. I don't want to dwell on the
details, but in November my Mum's life was shattered
when she learnt that her husband (my father) had a
girlfriend. However my Mum is amazingly |
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resilient, and faced adversity
by posing in front of this shattered house (left)
which she
quipped, symbolised her shattered
life. |
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Later Granddad asked her
to pose in front of the
house being rebuilt (right), making her laugh for
the first time, with his suggestion that it
also symbolised her rebuilding of her life. |
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It was good to hear her
laugh again, after all the tears.
I think that I must have the best Mum in the world, for
being so brave, and for taking care of me and my sisters. Granddad disagrees and says that he has the best Mum in
the world, but then he says that he has the best daughter in
the world too. I don't really understand why Granddad
doesn't simply agree with me. He did however take this
dramatic photo below left when we were on the way to the
beach, while my Mum took this interesting study of my sister
Chandi while we were at the seaside. |
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But that's enough photos of other
people, lets have some more photos of ME. These are some of
my firsts, from left to right, with my Mum, my first dip in
the swimming pool, centre my first solid food, a banana,
and finally my first sleep on my Granddad while he was
wearing sunglasses. |
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Our house had a lot
of different people coming to sell different
things. Below left this guy comes round on his tricycle
every day and sells milk. The lady in the centre sells
savoury snacks that she cooks herself, while the man on the
right cooks satay to order two or three evenings a week. |
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Our house had a pretty young maid named Latifah. She lived
locally and was happy to help Granddad learn some Indonesian
words.
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Mummy also had a friend named Bridget, who had a baby my
age. Mummy thought that it was very funny that Granddad
spent a lot of time talking with Bridget about baby care. |
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In November it was Granddad's
60th birthday. I am 6 months old, which is quite old enough,
so he must be ancient to be 720 months old. He had lovely
surprises when the post man arrived with a card for him from
my Uncle Chris and Aunty Gemma on his birthday, followed by
another from his sister the following day. |
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Mummy used the rice cooker to
make a sponge cake for Granddad with 60 candles, and my sisters
and I all made cards for him. During the day we went to the beautiful Hindu
temple at Prambanan. Sadly this temple which is more than
1000 years old was also damaged in the earthquake.
In the evening we watched a
performance of Indonesian classical ballet, which was very
exciting, but noisy in parts. |
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 Right,
Prambanan, while far right a group of schoolgirls led by Nur
(with the long hair) was also visiting the temple. They
wanted to practice their English and had a long list of
questions which they asked Granddad. Naturally he was happy to help
them. |
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I've glossed over the days of pain and
tears, but they were very real, and we knew that we couldn't
stay in Indonesia any longer, especially as Mummy had no
husband, no job, no visa, no money and no wish to stay there as a single
parent. In the end Mum's and Granddad's visas
expired, heralding our departure. We had a farewell meal in Yogya
below left, (where naturally I was centre stage) and headed
off to Jakarta, where Mum met up with her close friend Ann
below right, (where naturally I was again centre stage). |
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While my Granddad lives in
Thailand, my other grandparents live in Jakarta. We went to
say goodbye to them. It was very tearful, with an
emotionally
charged atmosphere. Children are often innocent |
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victims when marriages
end, but it can happen that grandparents are
innocent victims too. They are deprived of the
grandchildren they love through no fault of their own. |
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Right, I know
that my Grandmother Ibu Sukatmi (aka Nenek in Indonesian) loves me together with my
sisters Anisa and Chandi very much, so I find it very sad
that at best we will not see her for a very long time, and there is a
real possibility that none of us will ever
see her again. Or she us! |
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Sometimes life
is not very fair! For us, for
her, or for Mummy,
(who was planning to spend the rest of her life in
Indonesia). |
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Funny
reminders of Indonesia |
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Some of the same mistakes in
translation into English appear in Indonesia, although the
sign below left was not at all bad. I think that Granddad
liked it because it almost had our family name (Brading).
The money on the table amounts to 9400 Rupiah. It was enough
to buy one cup of tea! |
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My Mummy wanted the photo of us
with Lassie. She thought it very funny that our hotel in
Jakarta was adorned with posters of television characters
and other fluffy animals. |
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From Jakarta we flew first to
Kuala Lumpur, then Bangkok, and finally Udonthani. There we
were met by Granddad's friend Kim in his pickup. It was
lucky Kim had his pickup, because we had so many bags. It
was a very long, tiring, and tearful day, so we were
relieved to arrive at Granddad's house in Nongkhai. |
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We were
hungry, and had to eat, so we headed to OJ's where one of
the first people we met was Dott. My sisters Anisa and
Chandi met Dott when she went to England last year, but of
course I had never met her.
She and
Granddad no longer live together, but they are still good
friends. I liked her very much, and I think she is very
nice, I know that Granddad agrees. |
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Once again that's enough photos of other
people, lets have some more photos of ME. The first is Kim
posing with me, he looks a bit upset as I had just grabbed
his hair band. Next to Kim it was Oy's turn to pose with me,
but I am afraid that I slept through it. I was a little
upstaged by Oy's gorgeous daughter Manao (in pink), but I
regained my composure when Thai Superstar Carabao posed with
me. (For those of you in other countries, he is one of
Thailand's biggest stars and is recognised by everybody
here, so I enjoyed meeting an equal.) You should visit
http://www.carabao.net |
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I liked the
Meeting Place, because there are lots of activities for
youngsters like me. First I thought that I would try pool,
but no one would come on the table with me, so I tried
my hand at bell ringing, but that wasn't too popular with
Granddad. Then we had the idea of pram racing, but it turned
out that Aunty Eileen was a novice (verging on virgin) pram
driver, which is why she is at the wrong end of the pram,
the handle is clearly this end, so I had to return to the pool table,
but again no one would come on the table with me! |
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It happened
that we returned to the Meeting Place on His Majesty the
King's birthday, and that we were dressed in the loyal
colours, so we took the opportunity to pose for a photo.
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The King's
birthday falls on 5th December, so we had to wait only two
days until Chandi's birthday on 7th, a birthday she shares
with Granddad's father who we call Poppa. It was also a
celebration of Granddad and Farng's birthdays, both of which
fell last month. |
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Chandi
described her birthday as 'the best birthday I remember',
which is impressive testimony from a five year old! I don't
remember any birthdays! |
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One of the
first things she did on her birthday was to go to Wat Po
Chai, a well known Buddhist temple in Nongkhai, to make
merit, and thereby bring her good luck in the forthcoming
year. Below left with Dott lighting candles to Buddha, while
below centre Mummy is blessed by a monk with the hope for a
better future, and below right Chandi prepares to blow out
the candles on her birthday cake. |
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Below left Kim
gave Granddad a lovely floral display to mark his birthday,
while Granddad proudly shows the card he received from
Manao. A small error in translation is evident, as it should
have read 'open'. Below right Manao, Chandi, Anisa and May
also made a beautiful display. |
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To finish, a
few more picture of ME! Left to right, with Jon who shares
Granddad's birthday and who was 40, yes FORTY last month,
with Sam a regular Nongkhai visitor from Australia, with
Tony in front of his Lamborghini and last a lovely cuddle
with Ning, one very sexy lady. Granddad if you want to marry
again, she has the makings of a Grandmother! |
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That's enough
for this episode! We are going to Bangkok on Sunday to meet
my Uncle Chris and Aunt Gemma then we have a few days at the
seaside before we go to a rather chilly England (it is 84°F
or 29°C here as I write) to start our lives again. |
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I want to say
a special thank you to my Grandfather for giving this
episode to me, but most of all I want to say thank you to my
Mummy, for being so strong and brave in difficult times, and
not least for giving me the gift of LIFE. |
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Best Wishes to you all
Ché
(with a little help from Tony)
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If you want copies of any of the
photos, or want to write, but you don't know
my personal email address, you can send email to :
mail@nongkhai.co.uk
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To view
all previous episodes move your
mouse cursor over this big
yellow button and left click |
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